Wofford was down to its third-string quarterback, former walk-on James Lawson, last week in the game at Samford. Starter Brian Kass suffered a hip pointer in the first quarter and backup Michael Weimer didn’t even make the trip because of a knee injury.

This week, preparing for a Southern Conference championship game at home against Chattanooga, the Terriers are getting dangerously close to pulling the red shirt off freshman Evan Jacks and wasting a year of eligibility.

There is one player at Wofford who has never taken a snap for the Terriers but was a record-setting quarterback in high school, the team’s offensive player of the year, holder of school records at the position and honored as an all-state performer.

And his team ran the triple option.

That player? Senior cornerback Kendall Bratcher.

Bratcher was a three-year starter for Northeast Guilford High School in Greensboro, N.C. He also played safety, but was originally recommended to Wofford as a quarterback because of his ability to run the option.

“We were very short on cornerbacks when I got here, so they thought I could help them out right away as a freshman,” Bratcher said. “We had a lot of good quarterbacks. It was kind of mentioned that if they ever needed me, I could probably come in. .. I love defense. I love hitting. I think it’s what was best for the team.”

So that was the end of it. And for a fifth-year senior heading into the final games of his career, it’s way too late now. But it’s an interesting thought.

“There’s no way I could pick up the offense in a few days,” Bratcher said. “It takes these guys months and years to get it down. Plus, it’s been a while since I ran the option. … I might able to run a few plays. That would be fun.”

About This Blog

Todd Shanesy is an award-winning sports writer who has been twice honored nationally by the Associated Press and more than three dozen times by the South Carolina Press Association. He is a native of Troy, Ohio, and studied journalism at Marshall University (1987 graduate). Shanesy is a former sports editor of the Florence (S.C.) Morning News and has been with the Spartanburg Herald-Journal since 1991.

Follow him two ways on Twitter: @ToddShanesySHJ and @TerrierTracker (for everything Wofford-related).